Automobile theft continues to be a problem and many methods and apparatus are developed each year to address this problem. One such method, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,486, is to modify a usual battery--having usual positive and negative battery posts--by installing two dummy terminals near the two usual positive and negative battery posts. The negative "dummy" is in electrical contact with the usual negative battery post and the positive "dummy" is connected through a switch to the usual positive battery post. Those usual posts are then covered by a lid leaving only the positive and negative dummy posts exposed. The solenoidal switch is placed between the positive dummy terminal and the positive covered battery post to open or close connection between them by a relay operation. Specifically, the '486 patent describes a relay controller that operates between an Enable circuit that permits current to travel between the positive dummy and usual positive post and an Inhibit circuit that prevents current from so traveling. The relay controller is activated by a user keypad in the automobile and connected to the controller at the battery.
In prior inhibitors, when the user entered the correct key information, the relay controller closed the connection between the positive dummy post and the usual positive post, thus connecting the battery across the starter motor. Without the correct code, the relay controller opened the connection between the dummy post and the usual post. Since the normal battery cable from the automobile to the battery was connected to the dummy post, the automobile usually received power only when the relay controller closed the connection between the dummy post and the usual post.
These prior inhibitors suffered some significant drawbacks. First, they failed to adequately address how the operation of automobile loads (such as hazard lights, headlights, etc.) can be maintained even when the anti-start mechanisms are in place. Further, the '486 patent, for example, taught that four different terminals were needed on the battery (including at least one apparently unique type of terminal) just for connection (or ultimate connection) to the positive battery cells. The '486 patent thus taught a "dummy" positive post (for connection to the starter load), a "real" positive post (hidden under a lid), a "terminal 6" for connection to the ignition coil, and a "terminal 5" for connection to "any other leads." Four terminals were thus needed in this prior battery for connecting the electrical system of the automobile. In commercial batteries, the terminals 5 and 6, respectively, were used to detect the operation of the ignition coil or the car hood release. These detection lines then told the control circuit to shut off the battery whenever the starter was engaged or the hood opened without previous code-entry. Such a system is extraordinarily complex and requires too many different types of automotive battery leads to be connected to different parts of the battery.
In addition, the operation of prior inhibitor circuits professed a desirability of giving the appearance of a flat battery when the user code had not been properly entered. That is, even though an automobile electrical system may be connected through to the battery during a disabled arrangement, the current available to the electrical system was diminished by a resistor to a minimal value (such as 0.8 amps) to give the operator the impression that the battery was dead. In fact, even if the authorized user entered the appropriate code, thus closing the usual and dummy battery terminals, the connections would "time out" after a set time period. Thus, the battery would be either completely inoperative or appear as a "flat battery" even to an authorized user after the set time period expired. This prevented the user from using the hazard lights, for example, after abandoning the automobile, since the lights would time out to a "flat battery" condition.
Still further, prior inhibitors required a connector on the inhibitor, for the keypad to input the entry code from the user. This arrangement is also overly complicated.